Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Incentives really work (eventually)

I don't know if you remember my frustrations with mini#2 reverting back to wetting at night. He had gone two months DRY (in underwear) at night (otherwise potty-trained for months and months)and then started wetting again back in early February. It was after MIL passed away so could have been related to that. Back to the pull-ups we went. After about two weeks with no change, I decided I would offer an incentive. He LOVES mini#1's Webkinz animals and has two himself. I told him if he could go five dry nights in a row then I would take him to get a Webkinz. His other two were gifts so he was very excited about making his own selection. So from mid-Feb until now he has had a few nights dry, then wet. Never the five days in a row. FINALLY, last week, on vacation of all times, he went the entire week dry in pull-ups. I gave him one final test Sunday night when we returned home from the beach. We put on the underwear and said goodbye to the pull-ups. DRY!!! So between 15,000 loads of laundry on Monday, mini#1 and I took him to the store to select his well-earned Webkinz. What did he choose??? A strange looking guinea pig that he named Gavin after a friend in preschool. Gavin the guinea pig, we gladly welcome you into our home!!! And, hopefully, I will never see, use, or buy another pull-up again.

4 comments:

Awesome! I potty-trained mini #2 in April and he took to it almost instantly - one week was all it took. But nighttime is a different story. Some nights he wakes up with a dry pullup but some nights he doesn't. Do you monitor your mini's liquids intake in the evenings? I don't right now because I'm relying on that pullup. I took him for his 3yo checkup last week and the pediatrician urged me to do away with pullups. I just can't bring myself to do it, with a new baby coming into the house (and she better come very soon or risk angering her mother!). I was thinking I'd give it 'til the end of the summer and then maybe try it. I just don't want to be up at night changing mini #2's sheets while also trying to feed a newborn, ya know?

Oh, and I'm all about the bribery. I swear, one reason why mini #2 did so well with the potty was that huge jar of m&ms!